Prague Manifesto

Manifesto from the Movement for the Promotion of Esperanto - Prague 1996

Invitation

We, members of the worldwide movement for the promotion of Esperanto,

• address this Manifesto to all governments, international organizations and people of good will;
• declare our unshakeable commitment to the objectives set out here; and
• call on all organizations and individuals to join us in working for these goals. 

Seven Principles

For more than a century Esperanto, launched in 1887 as a project for an auxiliary language for international communication and now a rich living language in its own right, has functioned as a means of bringing people together across the barriers of language and culture. The aims inspiring the users of Esperanto are still as important and relevant as ever. Neither the worldwide use of a few national languages, nor advances in communications technology, nor the development of new methods of language teaching is likely to result in a fair and effective language order based on the following seven principles, which we hold to be essential.

1. Democracy

Any system of communication which confers lifelong privileges on some while requiring others to devote years of effort to achieving a lesser degree of competence is fundamentally anti-democratic. While Esperanto, like any language, is not perfect, it far outstrips other languages as a means of egalitarian communication on a world scale.